Tate To Tate with Uber Boat by Thames Clippers. Great fun for all the family.

Anthea Gerrie Makes High Culture Fun For All The Family By Taking  an Uber Boat by Thames Clippers Between London’s Tate Modern And Tate Britain

         Tate Modern holds such a world-beating contemporary art collection within its thrillingly adapted industrial building of a home, it threatens to eclipse Tate Britain to the point that many youngsters have never visited that more traditional, but no less fine repository of British art on the quieter shores of Millbank.

Part of the problem is the difficulty of visiting both Tates in one day at opposite ends of London, a situation remedied immediately when replacing what would be a cumbersome trip by bus or Tube with a dash down the river on the Uber Boat by Thames Clippers.  There can be few more exciting ways to entertain kids during the Easter holidays, especially given the family-friendly exhibitions drawing the crowds in spring 2025.

Not an Uber as we know it, this efficient riverboat offers frequent scheduled departures in both directions, linking leading London’s leading riverside landmarks from Canary Wharf to Battersea Power Station and beyond in both directions via the Tower of London and Westminster, with both Tate galleries on the route

We started at London Bridge pier, on the south side of the Thames within a three-minute stroll of the station, from where it was just a three-minute ride to Tate Modern.   The stop also serves Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre for those planning well enough ahead to take in a matinee or guided tour, and offers a delightfully entertaining stroll along one of the liveliest stretches of riverbank en route the impressive Turbine Hall entrance sitting below the Millennium pedestrian bridge.

Children are immediately engaged by the building, which always has an entertaining installation in the vast Turbine Hall – our son, making his first visit for several years, still remembered a dramatic huge crack in the floor of old, still visible though now safely filled in.  We saw Electric Dreams, full of the dizzying visual effects dominating art and technology in pre-internet days, and Anthony McCall’s mind-bending light “sculptures” – actually laser projections – offer a complementary visual thrill for visitors of all ages.

But you don’t need to pay for temporary exhibitions given the wealth of wonders in the Tate Modern permanent collection, whose highlights include Salvador Dali’s lobster telephone, Marcel Duchamp’s surreal Fountain, which started life as a urinal, and Andreas Gurksy’s monumental crowd scene canvasses.  Bear in mind, though, that not all treasures are on display at the same time.

Back to the pier and it was only three stops of less than 10 minutes to Tate Britain, where the current photography show The 80s is one to make the middle-aged nostalgic for their own youth.  Hard-hitting protest and political photography is enlivened by fashion and rave shots telling the story of a pivotal era when gay and black rights came to the fore and women came into their own.   The wider story of great British painting is told in the permanent free collection celebrating homegrown greats from Turner to Bacon to Hockney in dramatic as well as colourful works.

The Uber Boat  by Thames Clippers is so comfortable you could sleep on it, and serves decent coffee it’s hard to find time to throw down between stops, so given the poor and overpriced catering options at Tate Britain we staved off hunger with quick caffeine hits and saved our appetite for Battersea Power Station a couple of stops west, now transformed into a lively and beautifully-landscaped drinking and dining destination.

Here Two Drops, by the folks who serve deliciously authentic Mexican fare at Tacos El Pastor next door, offers the best take on a pub – one which also serves proper cocktails and possibly the best cheese toasties in London. We enjoyed the Marmite and shallot variety(£11) which is never off the menu, a slightly less successful salt beef version with horseradish(£12.50) and a properly made Nicoise salad large enough to feed three of us.

Beer choices include revolving IPA craft brews on tap as well as Guinness, but the star turn for this imbiber was a perfectly-made espresso martini(£12) served in an elegant art deco cocktail glass.   Children are catered for with hot chocolate to wash down their toasties, which come in sweet as well as savoury versions and other dessert treats like ice-cream sandwiches.

The best part of the long day out on the river punctuated by absorbing culture stops before late afternoon refreshments was being just moments from the pier for a quick ride back to the main line station for out of towers, Tubes for Londoners – Embankment Pier for Charing Cross is served as well as London Bridge.

Tell Me More About Visiting Tate Modern And Tate Britain with Uber Boat by Thames Clippers

While the Uber Boat by Thames Clippers is not cheap, Travelcard holders get 1/3 off standard fares as they do on trains, and children travel for 50 per cent of adult fares.  One day hop-on, hop-off tickets on the Uber Boat by Thames Clippers are £25.40 for adults and £12.70 for children when bought online – and larger families can clean up with a single ticket for £50.80 covering two adults and up to three children.

Electric Dreams runs till June 1 and Anthony McCall: Solid Light until June 29 at Tate Modern.  The 80s: Photographing Britain is at Tate Britain until May 5.  Entry free in both galleries to the permanent collections.  More information at Tate and Two Drops

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